


Three More Minutes

by Aragarna



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Episode Tag, Fix-It, Gen, Hope, Post-Canon, Sort Of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-20
Updated: 2019-01-20
Packaged: 2019-10-13 12:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17488211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aragarna/pseuds/Aragarna
Summary: After he successfully takes Jessica out of the timeline, Flynn struggles to get back to the Lifeboat when an unexpected help from the future gives him hope that it might not be the end of the road after all.





	Three More Minutes

Garcia Flynn clenched his teeth as another burst of pain shot through his skull and seemed to spread through his entire body. Each headache was more intense than the previous one and he was starting to realize he couldn’t hold much longer. Struggling to keep his balance, Flynn nonetheless continued to stumble forward. He had to reach the lifeboat. He couldn’t fail. As the pain slowly receded, Flynn took a deep breath and picked up the pace. He couldn’t leave the time machine stuck in the past – and his friends in a _different_ past. That’d be a disaster, and it was the very last thing he wanted.

The past… Flynn had promised himself not to let this thoughts go there… He was in 2012. Iris was three years old. This time of day, Lorena would probably finish giving their daughter a bath and they’d get ready for dinner. Instinctively, Flynn paused and looked North. His girls were so close. They were living barely a couple miles from here.

It was a funny thing to think they had all lived so close to each other. Wyatt and Jessica in San Diego too, Lucy only a few miles North in San Franscico. Maybe their paths had crossed before. He wondered for a second how things could have been if he had met Lucy in totally different – _normal_ – circumstances. Though it probably wouldn’t have mattered. He was a happily married man and father back then. His whole world was Lorena and Iris.

_Three more minutes, Daddy._ What he would give to spend a few more minutes with his girls. Maybe he could sneek in, stay hidden – he wouldn’t want to scare them, see Iris’ mischievelous smile, Lorena’s loving eyes, hear them both laugh... one last time.

A burst of dizziness abruptly brought him back to reality. His time was running out. He had to go back to the Lifeboat. Flynn shook his head and turned back to resume his course toward the Lifeboat. He should stop torturing himself with thoughts about his family. He didn’t have time.

_Headaches are just the beginning_. Mason’s words echoed in his aching head. _No_ _sebleeds, seizures, brain damage,_ _m_ _emory loss, and t_ _hen_ _eventually, insanity and death._

Well, his nose was clearly bleeding, though Flynn wasn’t sure if it was from time travels or from his fight with Jessica. As if the side effects of travelling back to his own timeline hadn’t been enough, he was also sore from the few punches Jessica had managed to land. Flynn had no idea what kind of woman the original Jessica was, but this one sure knew how to fight.

It was a good thing the new Lifeboat had autopilot. He didn’t have had to risk any pilot’s life on that trip. It was a shame the Mothership didn’t have that option. Things would have been easier if he hadn’t had to kill Anthony, or accidently brought in a Rittenhouse agent when he went looking for Emma. With autopilot, the machine didn’t even need anyone inside. He could just send it back to Lucy and the team and stay here… In 2012, where his family was alive…

He had probably stayed way too long anyway. His head wouldn’t stop hurting now. Even if he managed to go back, what shape would he be in? If he had to die, he could just as well spend his last moments here, in 2012.

Flynn climbed the short slope leading to the wasteland where he had “parked” the Lifeboat. Except that when it finally came into view, it’s not one Lifeboat that Flynn saw, but two. He blinked, unsure of what he was seeing. Maybe the damages to his brain were even worst than he thought.

One of the Lifeboats opened, and a black man with white hair cautiously climbed down. Flynn pulled out his gun, making the old man stagger back as he rose his hands up in sign of peace.

“Don’t shoot! It’s me, Rufus. Damn, I had forgotten how scary you were.”

Flynn frowned, staring at the man in front of him. And then it hit him. It was Rufus. A Rufus about forty years older than the one he had left in Chinatown. An alive Rufus. Rufus was alive. It worked!

Behind him, at the door of the lifeboat, Lucy waved at him, and tilted her head with a smile. Her beautiful dark hair had turned grey, and she was holding them back in a pony-tail. Despite the new lines on her face, she still had the same sparks in her eyes, as she looked at him tenderly, making Flynn’s heart beat just a bit faster.

He lowered his gun. “What are you doing here?”

“Thanking you later,” Rufus said with a bright smile. “And paying you back. Did you, hum, got rid of Jessica?”

“I did.”

Feeling another surge of pain rising under his skull, Flynn tripped and leaned forward, fighting the dizziness. Rufus rushed to his side.

“Wow, wow, easy, cowboy.”

“The Lifeboat,” he breathed between his teeth. “I need to send it back...”

Flynn tried to push him away but Rufus forced him to sit down. Despite his age, the man was still strong and Flynn was in no shape to fight anything anymore.

Rufus slid a hand in his jacket and pulled out a big injection needle, similar to anti-histaminic sticks allergic people often carried with them.

“I’m sorry it took us so long,” Rufus said. “We finally found an antidote to the side-effects of travelling to our own timeline. Roll up your sleeve.”

Hand shaking and short-breathed, Flynn complied. “I barely had the time to miss you, Rufus. Feels like it was just yesterday you asked me to come to Chinatown,” he said with a short grin.

Rufus pressed the needle trigger and Flynn felt his whole body relax, the pain slowly decreasing, his breathing getting more even. He heaved a large sigh.

“Feeling better?” Rufus asked.

Flynn nodded. “Tell me you’re not still fight Rittenhouse in three hundred years.”

Helping Flynn back on his feet, Rufus smiled. “Nah, you erasing Jessica from the timeline gave us a strong advantage. But go ahead, go back to the Lifeboat, you’ll see it first hand.”

Flynn looked over his shoulder, in direction of his family, having dinner somewhere a couple miles from here. “I...” he started. Just a minute ago, he had accepted he was going to die here, and that he’d get to see his family one last time.

“You have time, now,” Lucy said gently. “Go see them, and then come back to 1848 with the Lifeboat, so that we finish it all together.”

“Here, take these,” Rufus said as he handed Flynn five more injection syringes and a piece of paper. “In case you need more, there’s the recipe to synthetize more. With these, you could travel to your own timeline and maybe find a way to get your family back.”

Flynn’s heart was pounding so hard in his chest that his ears were buzzing. He couldn’t take his eyes off of those syringes in his hands. Hope. Those innocent little sticks represented a renewed hope. Maybe he didn’t have to die here after all. And maybe they could be reunited, somehow, someway.

“How?” he said, his voice shaking.

“We’ll figure it out.” Rufus said as he climbed back in his own Lifeboat.

“Wait,” Flynn called him back. “How… How are things for you, in the future?”

“Everything’s fine. Wyatt says hi,” Lucy said with a wink.

Flynn rolled his eyes, making Rufus laugh.

“I went back to teaching, finally got that tenure. Rufus and Jiya founded their own tech company. Wyatt and I got married. We have two daughters – twins – and soon our first grandkid.”

“They named one of their kids Flynn,” Rufus interjected. “ _Flynn_. So please come back and at least undo that. I mean, she didn’t turn into an Albus Severus Potter but...”

Flynn chuckled, though he was more touched than he was willing to admit. He swallowed back the lump in his throat, and tried to hid his embarrassment with a smile.

Lucy smiled tenderly at him once more. “I do hope that when we go back to 2054, you’ll be there, as good old uncle Flynn or something,” she said.

Flynn nodded and smiled back at her. “I will do my best.”

He kept his gaze locked to hers until the door of their Lifeboat closed on them. Soon, Flynn was left alone on the deserted hill. The only proof of what had just happened the syringes in his hands. He slid them in his pocket and turned around. Maybe – hopefully – he’ll find a way to save his family in the future, but for now, he’ll get three more minutes with them in the past.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first venture into the Timeless fandom. I do have some ideas for a sequel. If this first fic is well received, I might write them down.


End file.
